Our Dive Team's History
Three years ago, lives changed forever.
These kids learned about ocean conservation and scuba diving thanks to Annie’s inspirational ocean presentations. They learned about our amazing ocean world as well as plastic pollution and other impacts humans cause. These kids also learned they could become scuba divers if they were 10 years old (with parent permission of course).
Between the ages of 10 and 12 years old, these six students, smaller than the giant lingcod living in the park, became underwater explorers. United by their love and excitement for the underwater world they became dry suit and open water certified during the best week ever at Edmonds Underwater Park.
Elise learned to dive because she wanted to become an ocean scientist and underwater filmmaker like Annie. Jaimie loved everything about the ocean and wanted to explore it. Daniel knew the ocean was home as soon as he took his first breath underwater. Kai learned to dive because he wanted to take care of our environment. Watch their Dive Team debut here.
What started as a fun summer camp became a lifelong adventure for these kids and their families.
Since the first camp at Edmonds Underwater Park, Annie continues to teach scuba diving during summer camp weeks and year round courses both in our area and around the world. Our Dive Team continues to grow and so do our students!
As we reminisce about our underwater backyard project, we realized more than half of this inaugural My Underwater Backyard program were part of our first group of divers. Elise, Jaimie, Daniel, and Kai—are now all PADI Rescue Divers, PADI Ambassadivers, and leaders in our community.
Elise is learning Scientific Diving and developing her eye for photography. She loves assisting new students and always lends a hand. She’s finding her power through storytelling, speaking to our local representatives about ocean conservation, and excels at team leadership.
Jaimie inspired many of her friends to join the team and plans on a long career as an ocean scientist or engineer. She has travelled with our team to California and Tonga and finds home in the ocean.
Daniel discovered his passion for photography and loves showing people what lives in our park. He uses his photos, combined with storytelling, to teach people everything worth protecting in our backyard.
Kai is going to be the first PNW Junior Divemaster on our Dive Team. He uses fun and positivity to cultivate a supportive learning atmosphere. He looks forward to stepping into a professional Divemaster role when he turns 18.
While reflecting on how far we’ve come, we are excited to see where the coming years take us. We hope the My Underwater Backyard project will spark interest and action in our community. We developed this project to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Edmonds Underwater Park. All of the young kids who come to the beach ask us so many questions, we wanted to give them a place to see what we see. We know they will be future underwater explorers.
Teaching young people to dive changes their lives, our lives, and our community. Scuba diving is more than just a fun activity; it requires respect, responsibility, navigation, time management, accountability, planning, teamwork, confidence, and leadership. These life skills learned through scuba diving in our underwater backyard are worth celebrating.
These kids are the leaders of their generation. They embody what it means to be a voice for the ocean. Help them by speaking up for the ocean, without us the ocean has no voice.
